


17. Looks like we'll be trapped for a while

by PrincessOfMalec (Treasure7)



Series: Princess writes numbers-prompts [10]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, First Meetings, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Jace sort of maybe has a crush on Raj actually idk, Love at First Sight, Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood First Meet, Magnus and Izzy are best friends, Raj is not a bad guy, Rescue Missions, it's just really cute okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-24 08:54:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9714233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treasure7/pseuds/PrincessOfMalec
Summary: In a world where Magnus and Alec didn't meet through Clary turning everyone's lives upside down, fate has to make other plans for getting the two of them together!This is really just pure cute first meet-fluff, Happy Valentine's day!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had this plan of posting a bush of prompt-answers for valentine's day, but when I woke up this morning it turns out life wasn't entirely on board with that plan and so I won't have time to post as much as I might have wanted to... It really sucks, but I'll try to have a few of them up this weekend instead. Keep sending in your prompts, because I'd love to continue writing them for you!
> 
> Also: This got too long, so I decided to split it into two chapters, the other will be posted tomorrow!

Isabelle frowned when she walked into the dark loft. Magnus and her had decided to meet up for lunch two hours prior and when the warlock hadn’t shown up, Isabelle had assumed he’d gotten caught up in work and forgotten about the time again. So she’d gone to his apartment to find him, but seeing the empty space had her instantly worried. It wasn’t all that unusual for Magnus to forget about the time whenever he was caught up in some spell, but he was a gentleman and if he would be out of his apartment for work and risked being late, then he’d always make sure to tell whoever he was meeting up with as much.

She’d met the High Warlock of Brooklyn at a downworlder party she’d gone to for her previous boyfriend, Meliorn, a few months back and their mutual interests in both fashion and science (as Magnus had explained - mixing potions wasn’t all that different from what she was doing in her lab) had the two of them instantly clicking. Despite the night having ended with a breakup for her, after she found Meliorn in bed with two vampires, she’d still considered it a success after Magnus had invited her over to his loft for drinks to “celebrate her getting rid of the trash”, as he’d called it. Although they both knew that the Seelie had never made any promises of exclusivity to the Shadowhunter, Isabelle had still found herself appreciating the supportive sentiment. They’d been best friends ever since.

Which was why she knew something most definitely wasn’t right with the picture before her.

Picking up her phone from her pocket, Isabelle dialed Magnus’ number and waited for the dial-tone, praying to the Angel that he’d pick up - Only to have the call cut off almost immediately. Her heart beating slightly in panic, she started looking around the loft for any indication to where her friend might be. After looking through the entire apartment without any results, she picked up a shirt to try tracking him. The light flared around her hands and an image of Magnus flashed before her eyes. He was in what looked to be a cage, shouting something she couldn’t hear. She tried to focus on getting a location, but before she could get so much as a hint, something slammed into the vision and it blinked out. With a curse, she stuffed the shirt into her bag and ran towards the institute.

She needed a stronger tracking.

*******

“Alec, I need your help!”

Alec looked up from where he’d been planning out next week’s patrol-schedule and raised his eyebrows in question to his sister’s abrupt entrance.

“I thought you were having lunch with your friend?” he said, straightening up and looking his sister over. “What’s wrong?”

“I was, but something is wrong. He didn’t show up and he wasn’t at his apartment. I tried tracking him, but I got cut off by something. I need you and Jace to use your parabatai bond to track him”, Izzy explained and Alec knew better than to question his sister’s instincts. So he simply pushed off the table and started walking towards the training-room, where he knew Jace would be - especially since Raj had walked by earlier with a put-upon sigh that told the oldest Lightwood-sibling that his brother had roped the poor guy into training with him again.

“Sorry to interrupt guys”, he announced their presence when they walked in and almost smiled at the sight of Raj throwing Jace down on his back and pinning him with a knife to his throat before they both looked up at them.

“ _That_ ”, Jace panted, his eyes on Raj’s smug face, “Does _not_  count. Alec distracted me!”

The other man just huffed a laugh, helped him to his feet with a roll of his eyes and turned to Alec with a rise of his eyebrows.

“What’s up?” Jace voiced Raj’s unvoiced question.

“Izzy needs our help to track her friend, she thinks he might be in trouble”, Alec explained and Jace nodded as he started to remove his training-gloves and walked towards them.

“I could use a small break anyway, you want us to go out with you to find him too?” he said and Alec shook his head.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll go with Izzy to check it out, call you if we need backup. You should probably go make sure Clary’s doing okay with her rune-studies anyway, leave Raj alone for once?” He gave Jace a pointed look and Raj mouthed a ‘thank you’ to him from where he was packing away the knives they’d been using.

“I have some work I need to get done anyway. You can try to beat me some other time, Blondie”, he said as he walked past them out of the room, patting Jace on the shoulder. Alec shook his head at Jace’s frown as he watched his retreating form.

“Still beating you, huh?” Alec asked and Jace returned his eyes to his parabatai with an exasperated look that made the corner Alec’s mouth lift, amused.

“I don’t know how he does it, the man is a freaking ninja! I figure out how to block one move and he’s already on to the next. It’s insane!” he answered and Alec just shrugged at him in a ‘what can you do’-manner.

“As much as I enjoy this little fanboy-moment of yours, Jace, we need to hurry up. Magnus is in trouble and I need to get to him”, Izzy spoke up, thrusting the shirt she’d brought towards them and Alec went into mission-mode as he grabbed the shirt along with Jace’s hand and started focusing on tracking the warlock.

The familiar feeling of Jace’s energy surged through him as the light swirled around their joined hands and a blurry picture opened up in his mind. He could make out the siluett of a man sitting cross-legged in a leaf-filled cell, light coming from somewhere above him. Magnus, Alec assumed as there didn’t seem to be anyone else around. He redirected his focus from the image to get a feel of _where_  this cell was when a force slammed into him and both him and Jace grabbed the other tighter as they fought it to stay on the track. A symbol on the side of the cell caught Alec’s eye and as Jace gave his hand a small tug, he knew his parabatai had seen it to. Breathing out slowly, he felt Jace’s energy leave and slowly opened his eyes as he let go of the other’s hand.

“He’s in the Seelie-realm, in a cell of some kind. Doesn’t seem hurt though, but you’re right - we should hurry to get him out”, he answered his sister’s questioning look before walking away to get changed.

*******

Magnus Bane was bored out of his freaking mind. Bored and irritated. He’d been stuck in this _cage_  for hours, unable to do anything but wait for someone to notice his absence and come save him. He really hoped Isabelle hadn’t left him a message to cancel their lunch, because unless she noticed that he was gone no one would come for him in the next 24 hours. The prospect of sitting in this muddy room, with his magic drained enough to keep him from breaking out, for an entire day had him letting out another groan and letting his head fall back against the wall.

“If someone could send me a knight in shining armor to save me, that’d be great”, he grumbled towards the man-sized hole in the roof where the light was being let in. It was too high up for him to reach and possibly escape from and Magnus wasn’t too keen on risking a broken ankle in trying either, so he simply stared longingly at it and wished for a grand rescue of some kind.

*******

“We should split up, we’ll cover more ground that way”, Alec suggested and with a confirming nod from his sister he broke away to search for her friend. He wished he could say that it was a surprise to hear that the Seelies had thrown the High Warlock of Brooklyn into a cage for some reason, but considering that during Alec’s last meeting with the Seelie Queen, she’d been just about ready to do the same to him for not wanting to sleep with her, he really and truly wasn’t. Honestly, what _was_  a surprise to him was how the rest of the faerie-folk were still accepting her as their leader. If Valentine and his people were what gave the Shadowhunters a bad reputation, then people like the Seelie Queen most definitely was what gave downworlders theirs. He’d discussed the matter of damaging downworlder-leaders with Luke and Raphael a few days prior, and the two of them had suggested they’d bring in the High Warlock to their monthly meetings, since he apparently had the most sway over the downworld as a whole.

Alec had never met Magnus Bane, but from what he’d heard about the man he seemed like a good person with a rather wild reputation. The latter was just from what he’d been told by his parents though. Izzy had protested wildly as they’d argued that her new best friend was, in their father’s words: ‘Somewhat of a lothario who is nowhere near fitting for a young shadowhunter woman to be socializing with’, and Alec couldn’t blame her. Especially since his father, who followed Valentine blindly for _years_ , most certainly wasn’t in any position to judge anyone else. Alec sometimes thought back to how he’d viewed downworlders only two years earlier, before befriending Luke and Raphael after Clary had stumbled into their lives and turned it upside down, and felt ashamed of his past self. He hadn’t known better at that time, of course, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d thought of himself as above so many people when he’d had no right to.

Stepping over a few fallen branches, Alec surveyed the area around him, trying to see if anything looked even the slightest familiar to what he’d seen in his tracking-vision. It was no use though, they’d been forced to leave the vision too soon and hadn’t had a chance to see anything above ground from where the warlock was held. Alec heaved a frustrated sigh and continued moving forward at a swift speed.

He didn’t even make it another two yards before something sounded behind him and Alec whirled around, bow drawn and at the ready, only to be immediately blinded by a flash of light so bright he had to shield his eyes. In the shock he took a step backwards, and where he was certain there had been solid ground just a second before, were now nothing but air. With a surprised scream, Alec fell through the gaping hole in the ground.

*******

Magnus looked up with a frown at the bright flash above him, just a second before something - or rather _someone_ \- fell through the hole in the roof of his cell with a scream and landed right in the middle of the little room. The man looked up towards the hole with a frown, obviously cursing its existence, before rubbing slightly at where he’d landed on his hip, grimacing slightly.

“I’m not at my full power because of the stupid wards on this place, but I’m pretty sure I could heal that for you if you want?”, Magnus spoke, rising and walking towards the man, surveying him calmly as he did so.

He seemed to finally notice that he hadn’t fallen into an empty cell and snapped his eyes up towards Magnus’ voice. The warlock felt his breath catch as the light from the roof-opening hit them, making them appear almost golden, but gathered himself quickly and reached out his hand with a gesture towards the man’s hip.

“So? You want some help with that, then?” he prompted, with a rise of his brows. That appeared to be enough to shake him out of where he’d been outright staring blatantly at Magnus - obviously still surprised that there was someone else in this stupid cell, not that Magnus could blame him all that much for that - and he started rummaging through his pockets until he finally drew a stele from one of them.

 _Ah, a shadowhunter then,_  Magnus thought and finally noticed the rune running up the man’s neck as he bent over to activate his Iratze.

“Or you can do that, I guess” he mumbled and dropped his hand before returning to sit against the wall. When the man had finished healing his hip, he returned his gaze to Magnus, cocking his head slightly to the side, and the warlock was once again struck how gorgeous this man truly was. In the shadows, his eyes appeared almost green and Magnus reached his hand out again:

“Well, if we’re going to be stuck down here together, I feel like we should at the very least know each other’s name. I’m..”

The man rose slightly from his seat to grab Magnus’ hand this time as he interrupted.

“Magnus Bane, yeah I know. I’m actually…” he started, before looking around, a frown etched on his face once again.

“Uhm… Well, I’m here to… To rescue you, actually. I came with my sister, she was worried when you didn’t show up for lunch and…” he looked at Magnus again and, to the warlock’s delight, seemed to forget what he was talking about the second their eyes met. Magnus raised his eyebrows in question at the statement and hummed in acknowledgement before he spoke:

“As much as I appreciate the whole ‘handsome knight in a not-so-very-white and shining armor coming to my rescue’, they usually tend to avoid falling into the cage with the princess. Well, prince in this case”, he teased and smiled as a blush rose on the other’s cheeks.

“Yeah, that’s… That wasn’t exactly part of the plan”, the man admitted and Magnus squeezed his hand where he was still holding on to it, dragging him slightly towards him to lean against the wall instead of sitting in the middle of the room. The shadowhunter followed without complaint and Magnus smiled to himself at that.

“Well, since it looks like we’ll be trapped here for a while why don’t you…” he started and then the man’s words from earlier registered with him and he looked up at him with a huge smile blooming freely on his lips.

“Wait, did you say sister? Isabelle sent you? She’s here?” he asked, more than excited about the prospect of the man not being all alone on this rescue-mission.

“Yeah, we split up and she went the other way. I… I’m not entirely sure when she’ll be here though”, the man confirmed and then muttered something about hoping she was smarter than him and didn’t accidentally fall in here with them too. Magnus cocked his head as he regarded this new information. Isabelle had told him she had three brothers and looking at the man before him he registered the physical attributes his friend had used to describe them all with. He hummed slightly to himself before saying:

“Tall, dark hair, gorgeous hazel-eyes and a preference for the bow… You must be Alexander then?” he purred and the blush on the man’s cheeks deepened furiously.

“Alec”, the man - Alec Lightwood apparently - corrected him with a nod.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this is late! I honestly forgot that I split it in two and didn't post it all in one go, so sorry!
> 
> Also: Thank you so much to everyone who commented on not only this story but the others in this series, I've just read every comment and I've got this ridiculously goofy smile plastered on my lips. Thank you so SO much, it means the world to me <3
> 
> I hope you like this, I'm afraid I can't say I'm 100% happy with it but still!

Alec wasn’t entirely sure what he’d expected Magnus Bane to be like, but the man currently sitting next to him was not it. He was so… normal. Well, except for being without a doubt the most genuinely _beautiful_  man Alec had ever laid eyes on, of course.

He was used to downworlders being a bit wary of him the first time they met, still under the impression that all shadowhunters were of the ‘kill first, ask questions later’-variety, so having Magnus’ first words to him be an offer to heal his wound had surprised him. Then he’d turned towards the man and quite honestly been completely dumbstruck by how downright gorgeous he was.

Alec hadn’t ever had any real doubts about his sexuality, he’d always known that he was attracted to only men. But he’d also always known that he would be hiding said attraction for the entirety of his life, because while the clave and the shadowhunter-society no longer discriminated against downworlders as blatantly, homosexuality was still very much frowned upon. So he’d pushed that part of him down as deep as he could, forcefully shutting down any feelings of the sexual variety that dared climb to the surface. To the point where he was known as an emotionless asshole by pretty much everyone except for his closest friends and siblings. He really hadn’t minded it all that much, actually preferred being unattainable rather than having to find a polite way to turn down any women who might approach him. But the second his eyes met Magnus’, Alec knew without a doubt that all the walls he’d put up around his heart was about to shatter into teeny tiny pieces. The thought alone quite frankly scared the ever living shit out of him.

“So… Ehm… How did you end up here anyway?”, he asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

“Well, I was just here to check on their wards really, a routine-thing I do once a month. Usually it’s fine and no one bothers me. But this time I had this one guy following me around, constantly talking and interrupting my work. It took a few hours but by the time I was at the last layer and quite tired, he’d started up with these quite honestly offensive comments about what he… uhm”, Magnus trailed off, glancing at Alec thoughtfully before apparently deciding that it was okay to continue:

“Well, what he’d like to _do_  to me, if you get my meaning? I turned him down, of course, and here I am”, he finished with a small wave to indicate the cell around them. Alec frowned at his words. He’d never had anyone come on to him that blatantly, but the thought of being propositioned like that made him extremely uncomfortable and he found himself offended on Magnus’ behalf.

“So they threw you in a cell for not wanting to jump into bed with this guy?” he asked and Magnus huffed a laugh.

“Well, it turns out he was one of the queen’s sons and apparently he didn’t quite appreciate having a jolt of electricity running through his private parts”, he explained further and Alec couldn’t help but laugh out loud at that.

“You… Oh by the angel, you _electrocuted_  the guy!?” he wheezed and Magnus smiled up at him bashfully, a slight blush tainting his cheeks. He didn’t answer for a few minutes and Alec was pretty sure he wouldn’t, when the warlock eventually looked at where Alec’s lips were still spread in a wide smile and mumbled silently, as if he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted the shadowhunter to hear him:

“It’s only polite to ask before you try to kiss a man, after all”, then he met Alec’s eyes - his own glittering with mischief as he continued:

“I think he got the message though” and Alec couldn’t help but let out another chuckle at that as he nodded.

“Yeah, I think you’re right”

*******

They spoke for a few more minutes, Magnus explaining to Alec about the wards keeping his magic pressed down enough for him not to be able to break out of the hole they were currently trapped in and the shadowhunter telling him how he and his parabatai had felt those when they’d tried tracking him and that was why they weren’t able to get a more accurate track on him - and Alec had ended up falling in right here with him.

The mention of using another’s energy to track made something click in Magnus’ mind and he turned more fully towards the man beside him.

“Alexander. I know we only just met but, do you trust me?” he asked. The shadowhunter didn’t answer for a few seconds, just frowned confused at him and Magnus realized that was Alec’s silent way of telling him to please explain further before he said anything.

“I think I might be able to build my magic up enough to blast a hole through the wards and get us out if I could use your energy instead of my own, since the wards are keeping mine down but isn’t constructed to withstand shadowhunter-energy in the same way”, he said and Alec’s eyes lit up in realization at his words.

“Yeah, of course. That’s… That’s brilliant, Magnus!” he exclaimed and Magnus thought there might be something very wrong with him, because he hadn’t blushed this much since… ever, actually, and Alec wasn’t even doing anything other than telling him his plan made sense. Maybe he was getting the flu or something?

“So, what would you need me to do?” Alec interrupted his thoughts and Magnus decided to leave the symptoms of whatever disease he’d caught to be dealt with after he’d gotten them both out of this place.

“Nothing, really, just take my hand. The energy will flow through you and into me, so you might feel a small tug but that’s about it”, he explained and reached out a hand for Alec to grab before realizing it’d work faster the closer he was to the wards.

“It might be better if we stand, actually” he said and before he’d even had a second to react, Alec had grabbed his hand and pulled him up with him. Magnus swayed slightly as he tried to find his footing and ended up taking a steadying step into Alec’s personal space. He swallowed thickly and looked up to meet the other man’s eyes.

“Ready?” Alec said and Magnus could have sworn his voice was a little thicker than it had been just a moment earlier. He took a step back to clear his mind and nodded, then squeezed Alec’s hand a little tighter as he closed his eyes to focus.

*******

He could feel it the second Magnus’ magic opened up a stream for Alec’s energy to flow into the warlock. He’d expected it to hurt at least a little, but although there was a dull throb in his head as his energy was leached into the other man, Magnus’ magic felt kind of… _right_  in this strange way he couldn’t explain. It was as if his energy was leaving him to go into this other home, where it wasn’t as much a stranger as it should have been.

A small gasp came from the other man and Alec gripped his hand tighter as Magnus raised the other one towards the roof of the cell, blue smoke emitting from it as he worked the magic. A loud groan sounded, almost like a wall protesting against heavy pressure and Alec looked down at Magnus to find him furrowing his eyebrows in concentration and what looked to be a little bit of pain. The magic holding up the opening for his energy to stream through seemed to disappear, as if the warlock didn’t want to take too much out of him, and Alec bent down slightly to press his lips almost to Magnus’ ear and make sure he heard him.

“Take whatever you need, it’s okay. Just take whatever you need, I’ll be fine”, he whispered and Magnus’ eyes fluttered up in what looked like wonder, a question lighting them. Alec nodded in response to the unvoiced question and then the stream was opened up again. Alec squeezed Magnus’ hand tighter as he willed his energy to flow into the other man and help him break them both free.

A few seconds later Magnus tensed up and the roof seemed to vibrate as a flash of light lit up the cell. A heavy sigh came from the warlock and Alec managed to catch him as his body collapsed, drained, and he sat back down against the wall carefully, letting the other lean into him completely.

They sat like that, Magnus pillowed against Alec’s chest, for a several minutes. Just catching their breaths. Alec felt his energy slowly return to him with every second and when Magnus finally raised his head to look up at him, he couldn’t help but smile at the man.

“You okay?” he asked, frowning slightly at how hoarse his own voice sounded.

“Yeah, my magic is returning to me”, Magnus answered with a nod and when he started to get up, Alec found himself missing the slight weight of his head against his chest almost immediately. He pushed the feeling of loss down with a stern mental hand and focused on the task at hand; Getting out of the cell.

Rising to stand beside Magnus, Alec looked up towards the hole that despite now being free of any wards keeping them locked in, was still way too high up to climb out of.

“Any plan for how we’re going to climb up there?” He asked and Magnus looked up at him with a smile.

“Oh, Alexander. We’re not climbing”, he said, eyes twinkling in amusement, and with a wave of his hand a portal opened up right in front of them. The warlock pulled at Alec’s hand and started to walk towards it, frowning a bit as the shadowhunter didn’t move.

“Isabelle. She’s still here somewhere. I know my sister, Magnus, she’ll go to the queen herself to get you out if she can’t find you by scouting. We can’t leave her”, he explained, relieved when realization dawned on the warlock’s features.

“You’re right. Of course. Would you mind if I returned the favor and went to get Isabelle myself after I got you out of this mud-hole? I kind of owe her”, he said and Alec thought about it for a minute. He didn’t like not being able to help the two if any problems should arise, and he especially hated sitting on the sidelines waiting for others to return from danger. He was a leader, it was his job to protect his soldiers. But he knew what Magnus wasn’t saying; It’d be faster if he went alone. So, he took a second to steel himself and then he went against every natural instinct in his body, nodded towards the other man and let him lead him through the portal.

They ended up in what Alec assumed was Magnus’ apartment, judging from the elegant and quite frankly _beautiful_  interior surrounding him. Not even two seconds after they had sat foot on the wooden floors of the room, was Magnus turning around to open up a new portal to take him to wherever Izzy might be in the Seelie realm. Alec reached out to grab the Warlock’s arm in a move to halt his movement and blushed as Magnus turned to him with a questioning rise of his brows.

“Just… Be careful, okay?”

The corners of Magnus’ mouth turned up, his eyes seeming to light up with something akin to fondness at the words and Alec’s heart sped up at the sight.

“I promise to have your sister back in one piece, darling, and then, after all this is over, maybe you’d let me buy you a drink?” he spoke and Alec felt a slight shiver run through his entire body at the thought of Magnus wanting to see him again. He cleared his throat in an attempt to find his voice and nodded slightly.

“I… Yeah, that… That sounds like fun”, he agreed.  
  
*******

Magnus smiled to himself, more than pleased with Alec’s acceptance of his invitation. Taking a second to consider, he tilted his head up and leaned forward to press his lips against Alec’s cheek, reveling in the delightful blush that followed the action, before turning his back towards the shadowhunter and stepping through the portal to bring back his friend.

_He never thought he’d be grateful for being thrown in a cage and yet here he was, smiling about the fact that what had started out as one of the worst days of the decade had turned out to be one of the best._

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it thus far please leave a little not with your thoughts and make my day!
> 
> Also: If you'd like to, you are always welcome to send in your own prompts, you find my tumblr at: **MatthewLightwood-Bane**


End file.
